Ohio steam railroad museum to sell its trains
(The following story by Malcolm Hall appeared on the Canton Repository website on October 12, 2009.)
MINERVA, Ohio — Hulking train cars, which once were among the village’s tourist attractions, likely will be sold later this week.
Yielding to the rising cost of operating a recreational train-ride project, members of the Steam Railroad Museum are auctioning the locomotives, passenger cars, a caboose and a baggage car that together provided scenic train rides.
“I am not happy to see it go,” Mayor James Waller said. “I wish it would continue to exist. I hope someone buys it that has it in mind to get it back up and running again. It is a neat thing to have in town. It brings people into town. There are a lot of train buffs out there. It was a nice shot in the arm for the town.”
The sale, conducted by Kiko Auctioneers & Realtors, is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the railroad museum site at 177 Curry St.
HURT BY INSURANCE COSTS
When it was running, the scenic trips would carry passengers from the south side of Minerva east about two miles into Columbiana County’s West Township.
“It was about an hour round trip,” said William Schnierle, a Perry Township resident who had been vice president of the Steam Railroad Museum. “It was just a ride in an old-fashioned train. Over the course of the three years we operated, we hauled just over 13,500 people. It was pretty good for the time.”
However, operating costs forced the Steam Railroad Museum officials to bail out of the ride business.
“Our three biggies on expenses were advertising, insurance and fuel,” Schnierle said. “Everybody was volunteer that worked the train.”
For the past few years, the train has sat idle.
“We are paying just around $21,000 a year in insurance; $1,800 a month,” said Emerson Roth, president of Steam Railroad Museum.
“We haven’t run passenger trains since 2006. We have just been sitting idle, hoping the state would change its insurance requirement. The building is already sold. Somebody is actively purchasing it, and at this time we are waiting on the closing. It will be for private use; it won’t be a museum any longer.”
NO MINIMUM BID
The two diesel-powered locomotives up for sale were manufactured by American Locomotive Co. Another component of the auction is the machine shop equipment.
“Everything sells absolute,” said George Kiko of Kiko Auctioneers & Realtors. “There is no minimum bid. Whatever they bring, they bring. Scrap dealers will be interested because they weigh so much. You don’t auction trains everyday. Caboose cars are hard to come by. People might want to buy them and put them in their backyards.”
A steam engine also on the site will not be included in the upcoming auction.
“It is not owned by the museum,” Kiko said. “It is owned by a private individual.”
The Steam Railroad Museum in Minerva was organized in the mid-1980s by a group of rail history enthusiasts. For the excursion trips, the group used rail track owned by Ohio-Rail Corp., a Minerva-based short-line railroad which serves an area southeast of Minerva.
“We had a track agreement with them to operate on their track,” Schnierle said.
During its years of operation, the Steam Railroad Museum ran its tourist train Saturdays and Sundays. There also were special holiday-season rides for Halloween and Christmas.
“Initially, we did four each day,” Schnierle said. “Our last year, we did three on Saturday and two on Sunday. Our Christmas and Halloween trains were the most popular ones. It was quite popular. We were selling out pretty good.”
TRAIN SALE
WHAT: Steam Railroad Museum sale
WHERE: 177 Curry St., Minerva
WHAT: Two ALCO diesel locomotives; two 75-foot passenger cars; Wheeling & Lake Erie caboose car and other units
WHEN: 4:30 p.m. Thursday
INFORMATION: www.kikoauctions.com
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
